Planned Parenthood to unleash campaign against Trump

Republicans have promised to strip funding from Planned Parenthood because the organization funds abortions. Now, in a bid to keep their federal funding, the group is highlighting cancer survivors who were treated at the organization's centers in a bid to tilt the debate in their favor.

The organization is launching a $1 million national television and digital campaign with cancer survivors telling the story of Planned Parenthood — with ads tailored to the shows President Donald Trump watches, including spots playing on Morning Joe, Fox and Friends and in West Palm Beach markets this weekend, when Trump visits Mar-a-Lago, his seaside resort.

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"Millions and millions of women, cervical cancer, breast cancer, are helped by Planned Parenthood," Trump says in the ad, which pulls the quote from his Feb. 26 primary debate with Republicans. The ad then cuts to a cancer survivor talking about Planned Parenthood.

The campaign will include a digital effort and possible "grassroots events" across the country, said Dawn Laguens, an executive vice president at Planned Parenthood.

"They want to weasel, waffle and deal-make to get out the way," Laguens said. "We have a lot of people, and they are going to get rowdy, not just on TV but on their doorsteps."

In a statement, the White House said it supported women's health organizations that didn't fund abortions and agreed that the organization provided valuable cancer services. "There is an opportunity for organizations to continue the important work they do in support of women’s health, while not providing abortion services," the statement said.

Laguens said Planned Parenthood wouldn't take any deal that limited their ability to provide abortions, creating a collision course with the White House.

The organization received about $550 million in federal funding in 2014, or almost half of its funding. If the government moved to strip its funding, Planned Parenthood would have to scramble for donors — or cut some of its services. Congress and the White House will decide in the next two months whether they cut the funding.

The organization is in a difficult position because Republicans control all three branches of government and have made stripping funding from Planned Parenthood a campaign issue. Trump is also surrounded by advisers and officials who don't like the organization's abortion services, particularly Vice President Mike Pence. The organization is also a favorite whipping boy of conservative websites that are popular with Trump's base.